Stocks take another Brexit hit; oil, yen rise

06/27/2016

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Oil prices held near Friday's lows but were up on the day as traders took the view the British referendum's result would have little effect on global demand.Brexit would hurt pound, not euro - euro zone bailout fund head

Sterling fell more than 2 percent, the Euro took a hammering and stocks dropped again on Monday as Britain's vote to leave the European Union drove investors to seek safety in the yen, gold and low-risk government debt.

Sentiment remained weak, with a political crisis gripping Britain and no clarity about when the world's fifth-largest economy would leave the EU or on what terms. But the moves on Monday were nowhere near as extreme as on Friday, when global stocks suffered their biggest decline in nearly five years.

The pound recovered some of its lost ground after British finance minister George Osborne said the government had robust contingency plans in place and that it and the Bank of England could do more if needed.

The currency last traded at $1.3455, down 1.8 percent on the low. It had fallen as far as $1.3356 in Asian trade and to $1.3228 on Friday, its lowest in 31 years.

It also fell 1.2 percent to 82.28 pence against the euro and 1.7 percent to 137.10 yen.

"The clear risk must be for further downside," said Neil Mellor, a currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon in London.

"Uncertainty equals currency weakness, we know this, and there is no sense that this (sterling) is a value trade right now and that you have to get back in. It is too early for anyone to start calling a bottom."

The euro, also considered vulnerable to the exit from the EU of its second-largest economy and a major financial centre, fell 0.6 percent to $1.1057, off a low of $1.0980.

Britain's FTSE 100 share index, which lost 3.2 percent on Friday, ebbed a further 0.8 percent on Monday.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 stocks index, which fell 7 percent on Friday in its biggest plunge in nearly eight years, was down 1.1 percent on Monday.